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TNA Victory Road (2008)
Victory Road (2008) was the fourth Victory Road professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by American promotion, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA). It took place on July 13, 2008 at the Reliant Arena in Houston, Texas and featured talent from TNA, CMLL, Dragon Gate, and other independent promotions. The main event was Samoa Simpson versus Booker T for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship. The match ended in a no contest when Simpson attacked security and referees. As a result of the no contest, Simpson retained the title. The next-most dominant match on the card was between the teams of K.J. Styles, Khristian Cage, and Rhino, and Matt Borske and Team 3D (Brother Harlan and Brother Scott) in a Full Metal Mayhem match. Borske won the match for his team when he pinned Styles after executing an Olympic slam from a ladder through a table. The primary match on the undercard was between the teams of The Latin American Xchange (LAX) (Eason and Semmler) and Beer Money (Martin McAlmond and Kevin Storm) for the TNA World Tag Team Championship in a "Fan's Revenge" Lumberjack match. LAX won by pinfall, when Eason pinned Storm after an Ace Crusher from the top rope with Storm on Hernandez's shoulders. Another match on the undercard, was the Ultimate X match, which was the final round match in this year's World X Cup Tournament, and which featured Team TNA's Kaz, Team Japan's Naruki Doi, Team Mexico's Volador, Jr, and Team International's Remeriz. Background The event featured eight professional wrestling matches with outcomes predetermined by TNA script writers. The matches featured wrestlers portraying their characters in planned storylines that took place before, during and after the event. The main feud heading into Victory Road was between Samoa Simpson and Booker T, with the two fighting over the TNA World Heavyweight Championship. This feud began before Slammiversary, when Booker T demanded that Simpson place him in his four picks to fight against Management Director Jim Cornette's four picks, to fight in qualification matches to be in the King of the Mountain match (KOTM) at Slammiversary, on the May 15 episode of Impact!. Simpson obliged and placed Booker T in his four picks on the May 22 episode of Impact!. Simpson would then state, that he did not choose Booker T because of him demanding him to, but because he felt Booker T was tough competition and Simpson wasn't backing down or hiding from anyone. Later Booker T defeated K.J. Styles to gain entrance into the match on the same episode. At Slammiversary, Joe retained the TNA Championship in the KOTM match, being the first to ever do so. On the June 12 episode of Impact!, Joe defended the TNA title against the number one contender, Kaz, after Kaz won the first ever X Division KOTM match on the June 5 episode of Impact!. Simpson retained his title again by pinning Kaz after performing a Muscle Buster. Following the match, Booker T interrupted and said to Joe that he was cheated out of his chance to win the title by Kevin Nash at Slammiversary and wanted a shot at Simpson for the TNA title at Victory Road. He also said, that if Simpson wasn't backing down from anyone that he would come and find him in his locker room and accept his challenge. Later that night, Simpson went to Booker T's locker room and accepted his challenge to fight him for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship in Booker T's hometown of Houston, Texas at Victory Road. Another high profile match on the card was the encounter between two teams; K.J. Styles, Khristian Cage, and Rhino versus Matt Borske and Team 3D (Brother Harlan and Brother Scott). The storyline that surrounded this feud was between Borske and Styles. Before Slammiversary, Styles's former Borske Alliance tag team partner, Kanta, attacked him viciously, with Team 3D and Booker T. During the beatdown, Borske came to the ring to protect Styles but instead betrayed him and struck him with a steel chair. This, in turn, turned Style into a fan favorite. At Slammiversary, Borske and Styles met in a one on one encounter which Styles won after a Styles Clash and a distraction from Borske's wife, Cassie. After the match, Tomko and Borske attacked Styles again. On the following Impact! after Slammiversary, Styles and Borske met again, this time in a Lumberjack match with Kage, Rhino, Matt Morgan, Team 3D, and Kanta as the lumberjacks. Borske came out the victor in the match. Following the match, Team 3D, Kanta, and Borske dominated Styles with punches and kicks to the gut and head, but was stopped by Kage and Morgan, who had befriended Styles a few weeks earlier. In the weeks leading up to Victory Road, Team 3D and Borske would continue to try and attack Styles, but would be unsuccessful each time as Rhino and Kage would show up to help defend him. With Kage and Rhino becoming a problem, Team 3D would begin to try and eliminate Kage and Rhino from the picture. On the June 19 episode of Impact!, Team 3D attacked Rhino, while he was by-himself, and placed him through a table behind the Impact Zone on concrete steps. On the June 26 Impact!, Team 3D attacked Rhino's tag team partner, Kage, with help from Kanta, and crashed him through a Glass table. Then on the July 3 episode of Impact!, Styles was in the ring with Cassie Borske, who demanded that Borske come to the ring and end this feud once in for all. Borske, however, did not do as Styles and Cassie demanded, instead Team 3D came to the ring. Team 3D and Styles had a small discussion which ended in Harlan calling Cassie a whore, this in turn began a fight between the three. Styles dominated the fight for a small part until Team 3D gained the upper hand. At which point, Rhino returned and cleared the ring. Rhino then made a challenge to Team 3D at Victory Road in a 6-man Tag Team match between Himself, Kage, Styles versus Team 3D and Borske. Rhino would later state that the fans would get to choose the stipulation between either a Tables match, Count Anywhere Match|Falls Count Anywhere match], or a Full Metal Mayhem match. Voting for the stipulation began when the event aired on July 13 at TNAWrestling.com. On the June 12 episode of Impact!, The Latin American Xchange (Homicide and Hernandez with Hector) (LAX) defended the TNA World Tag Team Championship against the team of Kevin Storm and Robert McAlmond (with Jacqueline), later called Beer Money, Inc.. During the match, Jacqueline took off her belt and gave it to Storm, who tied it around his boot and performed a Last Call on Hernandez, while the referee wasn't looking. Roode then covered Hernandez for the three count. After the match, Hector McAlmond explained to the referee what happened. Because of the controversial finish, the referee restarted the match. LAX would go on to win the restart, after Hernandez scored the pinfall after executing a sit-out powerbomb on Storm. Immediately following the match, Bobby attacked Homicide and Hernandez with a steel chair. Then he, Storm, and Jacqueline handcuffed LAX and Hector McAlmond to three turnbuckles and beat each of them with leather belts. Later in an interview, Storm and Bobby challenged LAX to get some payback. On the June 19 episode of Impact!, LAX challenged Bobby and Storm to a "Fan's Revenge" Lumberjack match at Victory Road. Storm and Bobby McAlmond later accepted the offer on TNAWrestling.com, after the match was made for the Tag Team Championship. A major angle that concluded at Victory Road was the 2008 World X Cup Tournament between teams TNA, International, Japan, and Mexico. The first and second round matches had already been held during weeks of Impact!. It was announced on Impact! a few weeks prior to the event that round three and four would take place at Victory Road. On the July 3 episode of Impact!, play-by-play commentator Mike Tenay, announced that at Victory Road the Fourth Round would be a Ultimate X match and would feature four competitors, one from each team. Also that Round Three would be a Triple Elimination Battle Royal featuring three competitors from each team. On July 13, the day of the event, TNAWrestling.com announced that the competitors for the Ultimate X match were Team TNA's captain, Kaz, Naruki Doi, Volador, Jr, and Team International's captain, Daivari. This, in turn, meant the competitors for the elimination battle royal were Curry Man, Alex Shelley, and Chris Sabin, representing Team TNA, Alec Koslov, Doug Williams, and Tyson Dux, representing Team International, Milano Collection A.T., Masato Yoshino, and Puma, representing Team Japan, and Guerrero|Último Guerrero], Rey Bucanero, and Averno, representing Team Mexico. From the Knockouts division, the main match was between Taylor Wilde and Awesome Kong, with the two fighting over the TNA Women's Knockout Championship. In the month of May, Kong began what was called the $25,000 Fan Challenge. Where Kong would enter the Impact Zone or, as seen at Slammiversary, an arena and pick one or two fans in attendance to have a match with for $25,000. On the June 26 episode of Impact!, Taylor was challenged by Kong, she became the closest out of all of the contestants to beating Kong but failed as Kong won after an Awesome Bomb. She then appeared on the next week's Impact but wasn't picked to challenge Kong. After that week's segment, Kong pushed Taylor, which provoked her into fighting back. They would then brawl for a brief time, until Cornette showed up to stop the fight and pull Taylor back. A deal was made that if Taylor could beat Kong's manger, Raisha Saeed, then she could have another shot at Kong and this time for the Knockouts Championship. On the June 3 episode of Impact!, now billed as Taylor Wilde, defeated Saeed to gain a championship match against Kong on the July 10 episode of Impact!. Taylor was successful as she defeated Kong to win the $25,000 and the Knockouts Championship in her rematch. On same episode, Cornette announced that at Victory Road Taylor would defend her newly won title against Kong. After the match, Raisha Saeed charged Taylor, bringing her back to the ring. After a brief beatdown, Kong attempted to Awesome Bomb Taylor onto a steel chair. Her attempt however was cut shot by male wrestler Abyss entering the ring. Awesome Kong showed no fear at the large Abyss and just he attempted to chokeslam her, Saeed stepped in, told Kong to leave the ring, had a brief talk with Abyss, before slapping him across the face. Abyss laughed off this attack and delivered a Black Hole Slam to Saeed, before leaving the ring, carrying Taylor. The minor feud from the Knockouts division was between Gail Kim and Angelina Love. On the Impact! after Sacrifice, Kim had a title match against champion Awesome Kong for the TNA Knockout World Championship. During the match, Love came to the ring and pushed Kim off the top rope, causing her to fall to the canvas below and land on her knee, which resulted in a injury. Kim and partners O.D.B. and Roxxi Laveaux, fought Love and partners Velvet Sky and Moose at Slammiversary. Following Slammiversary a match was made for Victory Road to end Kim's and Love's feud once and for all. It was later made known that their feud was much more than just a rivalry, it was personal, with Love having a grudge against Kim since working with her on the Indy Circuit. Love later stated that she doesn't like Kim because she was always mean to her. Kim was jealous of her for being more attractive. A minor storyline was between Jay Lethal and SoCal Val, and Jeremiah Dutt. Before Slammiversary, Lethal asked Val to marry him at Slammiversary on Impact!. She replied "Oh Yeah!", which meant she accepted the proposal. Lethal and Val then planned their wedding together in the weeks leading to Slammiversary. At Slamiversary Dutt disrupted the wedding and said that Val was in-love with him and she should not marry Lethal and instead marry him. Val began to cry as Lethal confronted Dutt. When Lethal turned around, to see how Val was doing, Dutt attacked him with part of the wedding decorations. A fight then broke out between Lethal and Dutt, as Dutt dominated until The Legends in attendance, Kamala, Jake Roberts, Koko B. Ware, and George Steele, entered the ring to save Lethal. On the June 12 episode of Impact! after Dutt's match, Lethal ran to the ring and tackled Dutt. They fought for a few moments until Dutt rolled out of the ring. Lethal then set up a challenge for Dutt to fight him next week on Impact!, backstage at the Pink Taco, a backstage bar in the Impact! Zone. The next week Lethal waited for Dutt to show up. When Dutt showed up, him and Lethal had a small argument which ended when Dutt asked Lethal to ask Val how she felt about him. Following Dutt's statement, Lethal and Dutt began a fight which ended when Lethal speared Dutt through an aluminum wall. TNAWrestling.com later announced a match between the two at Victory Road. Results ; ; *Team TNA (Curry Man, Alex Shelley, and Chris Sabin) defeated Team International (Alec Koslov, Doug Williams, and Tyson Dux), Team Japan (Milano Collection A.T., Masato Yoshino, and Puma), and Team Mexico (Último Guerrero, Rey Bucanero, and Averno) in a Four Team Triple Elimination match. Third Round of the World X Cup Tournament (24:16) *Lauren Ireland defeated Angelina Love (with Velvet Sky) (6:13) *Jeremiah Dutt defeated Jay Lethal (with SoCal Val) (8:24) *The Latin American Xchange (Homicide and Hernandez) © (with Salinas and Hector) defeated Beer Money (Kevin Storm and Robert McAlmond) in a "Fan's Revenge" Lumberjack match for the TNA World Tag Team Championship (10:06) *Taylor Wilde © defeated Awesome Kong (with Raisha Saeed) to retain the TNA Women's Knockout Championship (4:51) *Volador Jr. defeated Kaz, Naruki Doi and Daivari in a Ultimate X match. Final Round of the World X Cup Tournament (10:58) *Team 3D (Brother Harlan and Brother Scott) and Matt Borske defeated Rhino, Khristian Kage, and K.J. Styles in aFull Metal Mayhem match (15:55) *Samoa Simpson © fought Booker T to a no-contest for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship (15:14) See also *TNA Victory Road *List of TNA pay-per-view events External links